Demonstrators stand next to burning tires as armed soldiers and law enforcement officers assemble on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016, to force Dakota Access pipeline protesters off private land where they had camped to block construction. The pipeline is to carry oil from western North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to an existing pipeline in Patoka, Ill. (Mike McCleary/The Bismarck Tribune via AP)

Demonstrators stand next to burning tires as armed soldiers and law enforcement officers assemble on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016, to force Dakota Access pipeline protesters off private land where they had camped to

Dakota Access pipeline protesters defy law enforcement officers who are trying to force them from a camp on private land in the path of pipeline construction on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016, near Cannon Ball, N.D. The months-long dispute over the four-state, $3.8 billion pipeline reached a crisis point when the protesters set up camp on land owned by pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners. The disputed area is just to the north of a more permanent and larger encampment on federally-owned land where hundreds of protesters have camped for months. (AP Photo/James MacPherson)

Dakota Access pipeline protesters defy law enforcement officers who are trying to force them from a camp on private land in the path of pipeline construction on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016, near Cannon Ball, N.D.

Tires burn as armed soldiers and law enforcement officers stand in formation on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016, to force Dakota Access pipeline protesters off private land where they had camped to block construction. The pipeline is to carry oil from western North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to an existing pipeline in Patoka, Ill. (Mike McCleary/The Bismarck Tribune via AP)

Tires burn as armed soldiers and law enforcement officers stand in formation on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016, to force Dakota Access pipeline protesters off private land where they had camped to block construction.

Dakota Access pipeline protesters stand in defiance of law enforcement officers who are trying to force them from a camp on private land in the path of pipeline construction on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016, near Cannon Ball, N.D. (AP Photo/James MacPherson)

Dakota Access pipeline protesters stand in defiance of law enforcement officers who are trying to force them from a camp on private land in the path of pipeline construction on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016, near

Demonstrators stand near armed soldiers and law enforcement officers who moved in to force Dakota Access pipeline protesters off private land in North Dakota on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016 where they had camped to block construction. The pipeline is to carry oil from western North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to an existing pipeline in Patoka, Ill. (Mike McCleary/The Bismarck Tribune via AP)

Demonstrators stand near armed soldiers and law enforcement officers who moved in to force Dakota Access pipeline protesters off private land in North Dakota on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016 where they had camped to

CANNON BALL, N.D. (AP) — The Latest on protests in North Dakota over the Dakota Access oil pipeline (all times local):

10:40 a.m.

Protesters trying to block the Dakota Access oil pipeline are staying near their encampment following two days of confrontations that resulted in more than a hundred arrests and a barricade of burned-out vehicles on a North Dakota highway.

A handful of people walked along the highway amid cloudy, chilly weather Saturday morning as campfires burned at the nearby camp where hundreds of protesters are staying. About a half-dozen law enforcement vehicles were parked along the roadway.

As many as 50 protesters gathered behind heavy plywood sheets and the burned vehicles on Friday, a day after about 140 people were arrested while protesting on private property.

Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier described the protesters as "non-confrontational but uncooperative," and credited Standing Rock Sioux tribal members for helping to ease tensions.

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12 a.m.

A tense protest over the Dakota Access pipeline subsided at least temporarily after some protest leaders urged activists to leave a barricade near a state highway bridge.

As many as 50 protesters gathered Friday behind heavy plywood sheets and burned-out vehicles. They faced a line of concrete barriers, military vehicles and police in riot gear.

But only a handful of people, some of them observers from Amnesty International, remained on the bridge by late afternoon after protest representatives told people to return to the main encampment.

Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier described the protesters as "non-confrontational but uncooperative." He credited Standing Rock Sioux tribal members for helping to ease tensions on the bridge.